Istanbul Inception: Warped Turkish Cityscapes by Aydin Büyüktas

Turkish photographer and digital artist Aydın Büyüktaş turns the streets of Istanbul upside down in these warped cityscapes that appear to curve infinitely upward and outward toward the skies. While it’s tempting to draw parallels with stunning visuals from the 2010 movie Inception, the artist says his true inspiration is taken from the 1884 satirical novella Flatland that depicts a two-dimensional world occupied by geometric figures. In this series, also titled Flatland, Büyüktaş photographed canals, bazaars, skate parks, and bridges with the aid of a drone and then digitally stitched them together as dramatically inverted spaces without a visible horizon. You can see more of his gravity-defying work on Instagram.